


sunspots

by Anonymous



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:20:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29520774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: She'd closed her eyes again, Mei realized, and looked up at Tracer.(Archive 2017)
Relationships: Lena "Tracer" Oxton/Mei-Ling Zhou
Kudos: 5
Collections: Anonymous Fics





	sunspots

**Author's Note:**

  * For [glamafonic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/glamafonic/gifts).



> A horribly late birthday present for glamafonic.

Mei fell.

The ground swept out from under, her, pitiless and blunt. She tumbled--the shockwave threw her-- a yell was choked in her throat, the sun blinked gold and glaring above her in a spinning blue sky, the dust in her lungs and the tug of _empty, empty space_ at her back--

Ice crackled. Her gloved fingers slipped on controls and then with a sound like a hoarse giant’s shout a shelf of ice sprang out beyond the edge of the cliff. Her head bounced off the ice painfully and she gasped--dazed, her body not obeying her--

The crumbling white pillars framed the black shoulders of the Talon operative. Emboldened by the success of the pulse bomb he’d thrown, he swung his assault rifle up into his arms and aimed. If she could cryofreeze, she thought, but the device beeped patiently at her when she rolled to the side and groped at the controls.

Mei groped at the ice, groped for her gun, heard her temporary support groan under her--

“ _Hey!_ ”

She crashed into dusty ground, barely registering a juddery second in between. Warm, lean arms wrapped tightly around her waist, pressure even through her thick coat--one slim thigh pinning her legs--Mei looked up, her eyes feeling stretched-huge behind her skewed glasses.

Lena looked back down at her from inches away. She was still holding onto Mei. They’d hit the ground and rolled and Lena was holding her, clutching her arm and waist, hair rumpled and dusty across her brow and cheek--her lips parted, she breathed out--

“ _Mei_ ,” Lena said, “are you all right? Are you okay?”

“I’m--I’m fine, thank you, Tracer,” Mei stammed, and then shouted in Lena’s face, “ _look out!_ ”

Her arm jerked up. The Talon operative behind them staggered sideways and fell like a puppet with cut strings, an icicle in his throat.

When Mei blinked and looked back, Tracer was wincing faintly, shaking her head. 

“Ah--sorry--”

“For what?” Tracer rolled away from her, then to her own feet. She reached out and Mei took her hand, their fingers folding together, the muscles tensing in Tracer’s arm.

On her feet again. Mei breathed out, felt her bruised ribs twinge. Smiled at Tracer a little unsteadily, widely. “Thank you, Tracer,” she said.

Tracer’s smiles were always a little dazzling. Wide, unfettered, eager, white teeth and crinkled eyes. A dull explosion shook the ground behind them. “Any time,” she said. She squeezed Mei's hand, tight and determined. "Back into the fray!" she exclaimed, and her afterimage shone blue.

Mei took a deep breath, thumbed the ice wall panel on her gun open, and followed.

It's only forty five minutes later, in the drop ship, that Mei unexpectedly started shaking.

She looked at her thickly gloved fingers for a moment blankly, astonished, and then gave an odd choked laugh. How silly. She'd been through a hundred scrapes with death before. A brush with a fatal fall under the hot sun wouldn't chase her the way waking up in the desolate lab chased her during long nights. She remembered the medic smiling down at her with astonished relief, the stretcher waiting. The lights, dark, on the other units. Their dim insides which she closed her eyes against.

"Oh hey, Mei."

A voice cut into her thoughts. She'd closed her eyes again, Mei realized, and looked up at Tracer.

Her head cocked to one side, Tracer pushed her goggles up into her spikily unkempt hair and smiled curiously down at Mei. "You okay?"

Mei lowered her hand. "I'm okay," she said, and smiled back. "What a fight!"

Tracer's smile was brilliant. "You were amazing," she said. Mei felt herself blush, even though she'd heard Tracer enthuse over teammates' exploits before. Her good humour and cheery admiration were a balm to tired or even grumpy returning agents.

"And you," she replied fervently. "You saved my life--I thought I was done for!"

"Never," Tracer said, and she said it so fiercely Mei blinked. Tracer hesitated as if hearing herself, then rocked back on her heels and flicked her fingers with a sheepish smile. "We have to take care of each other out there, right?" Her voice had gone soft, and light through the windows as the ship banked limned her golden, cast a long shadow over Mei.

"Yes," Mei said simply. She shifted her shoulders, feeling some of the tensed muscles in her back relax; willing herself to relax further against the seat and feeling a little more peace come back into her body. "That doesn't mean I can't thank you," she added. "And you can't stop me."

Tracer giggled. "Wouldn't dream of it," she said. "And I know I'll be returning the favour."

"Will you sit?" Mei asked. She nudged her elbow at the seat next to her.

Tracer blinked--then laughed, scratching at the back of her head. "Of course!" she said. "Sorry--post battle jitters, a little." She bounced on her feet as if to demonstrate, then turned. Her knee brushed Mei's, the golden leggings clasping her hips swinging by Mei's eyes as she dropped with coltishly loose-limbed casualty into the seat. Mei found herself flushing, averted her eyes.

They sat companionably for a moment, hearing Winston tinkering and speaking in his soft baritone to Athena, relaxed near the front console. Symmetra sat typing on a laptop, her brow furrowed, occasionally pausing to rub her shoulder, and Ana and Jack were sitting near each other in tired camaraderie. Mercy seemed to have fallen asleep on the bench already, a thermal blanket tugged over her.

The golden light came and went in intensity as they made a long curve around the coast. She occasionally heard Athena reporting on aerial security in their area. Besides her Tracer yawned softly.

"Tracer," Mei said softly. "Do you want to lay down? The bench over there is free."

"Oh," Tracer said, blinking herself awake against with a crinkle of her nose. "No, I'm okay. Adrenaline leaving for good, I think."

"We should be back before too long," Mei said.

Tracer opened her mouth, then hesitated. "You can--you can call me Lena, you know."

Mei, whose hands had dropped to fiddle with Snowball, blinked at her. "Oh," she said.

Tracer was gazing at her, head leaned back against the headrest, her dark eyes liquid and gentle. She licked her lips and Mei watched the movement of her throat.

"How long are you staying this time?" Lena asked.

Mei chewed on her lower lip. "For a little longer," she said, and then added, "my work is important--" She sounded apologetic and hadn't quite meant to.

"Oh, I know." Lena smiled, and it was so warm. So sincere. There was no trace of doubt or dismissal in it. "I admire what you're doing, Mei! So much. It's just always nice to see you," she said, gently, and Mei pressed down on Snowball's head with both hands.

"It's good to see you too," she said. She couldn't think of better words past the warm knot in her throat. Of course it was. To see Lena Oxton again, who had wrapped her in a tight, tight hug, who had buried her face in Mei's hair and hood and shouted, _you're alive!_ Lena whose eyes never skated away when Mei's missing years came up, Lena who looked steady at her, Lena who understood coming back to a world irreparably changed by the way you'd left it.

Mei said, "even if I have to go, I'll be back. The work you're doing is important too."

Lena smiled, and she said, "here's to saving the world."

"Now we need a drink," Mei said, and giggled.

"When we land," Lena suggested, her eyes sparkling.

"Oh," Mei said. "Is it--you're tired," she said, but not wanting Lena to agree, thinking, _Mei! Stupid!_

"Not too tired to show you a night on the town," Lena said, and Mei breathed, "oh," and "oh, yes, I would love to," and the light was golden, so golden, on Lena's smile.


End file.
